The earth has been attacked by angels. Penryn has spent the last couple months holed up, protecting her mother (a schizophrenic) and her sister (a paraplegic), but she's decided they need to move into the mountains near San Francisco where it will be safer. Nighttime is the best time to travel, but soon after they leave their home they encounter a fight among several angels. One of the angels gets his wings cut off, Penryn's sister gets taken by the angels, and she is separated from her mother.
Penryn decides to try to save the injured angel because he is the only one that can help her get her sister back. So begins a long and difficult trek to San Francisco, that involves a few dangerous detours.
Something is always happening in Angelfall. It's nonstop and tense. It's difficult to tell who are the good guys and who are the bad ones. Fortunately (or conveniently) Penryn has had significant training in self defense and martial arts. Because she's going to need to fight her way out of several scary situations. I was able to sympathize with Penryn and I really cared about her. She was so heartbroken to lose her sister and steadfast in her goal to find her again.
Rafe (the angel she saves) is very mysterious. We get to know bits and pieces about him, but it's obvious there's more to him. He's quiet and isn't giving anything up to Penryn. And the reader gets the feeling he knows more about this attack on Earth than he's willing to tell Penryn.
We don't know much about the details of what happened to get Earth to this point. That's intentional because this is the first book in a series (Penryn and the End of Days), and I'm sure more details will be revealed in future books. There were a few conveniences towards the end of the book that helped Penryn quite a bit, but I'm forgiving those. And the ending really doesn't have much closure. Penryn is in a relatively safe environment, but that's about all. There is much more to accomplish.
I'm looking forward to the second book, World After, which is already available. I'll be happy to recommend Angelfall to my teens who enjoy apocalyptic survival stories, angel stories, and dystopians.
Published by Skyscape, 2012
eBook purchased
288 pages
Rating: 4/5
This sounds like a great read, Annette. I've had this sitting on my desk for...I don't even know how long. :( I'm gonna have to read it SOON! Great review!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear you enjoyed this! It's definitely fast-paced and it got me out of a reading rut when I read it. Can't wait to hear what you think of the sequel!
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